Otago users of Air New Zealand flights from Dunedin International Airport will have read with more than usual interest the company's reported full year financial results this week, which showed net profit down 90%, to $21 million.
For much of this year there have been complaints about the service the airline offers to and from Dunedin in respect of the frequency of flights, the types of aircraft used, and especially the variations in the fares being charged.
The complaints have come from all types of users including people who enjoyed the international services to and from Australia previously operated by Air New Zealand's subsidiary, Freedom Air.
The company's chairman, John Palmer, when announcing the annual result, noted the recession and a combination of "excess capacity", deteriorating demand and significant discounting had all worked against the company.
But he also made the most important point of all: the financial result fell short of delivering shareholders an appropriate commercial return.
In other words, although taxpayers nominally own 77% of the national carrier, Air New Zealand is a company required to operate on a fully commercial basis and in present global airline terms it must be considered one of the more successful airlines.
That may be little comfort to Otago users unhappy with the deterioration in service it offers and the cost to and from Dunedin.
The mysteries of airline fare structures will necessarily remain baffling to potential passengers while they continue to be concealed for good commercial reasons, but it is to be wondered what the level of apparent built-in subsidy is and who is paying it on every flight.
Full-fare passengers may be satisfied with getting last-minute or late-booked seats in return for the relatively high cost, while puzzling over a $39 "stand-by" fare which it is understood will soon be proposed to students to fill empty seats on departing low-demand services.
They may also wonder why it costs the same to fly on a faster jet service as it does on a slower propeller-driven aircraft, and why some long-standing jet services to and from Dunedin have been replaced by the latter.
In short, although there is some small competition on national services to and from Dunedin, the suspicion remains - to judge by published accounts - that Air New Zealand is effectively exploiting a monopoly position.
The airline may argue that services to and from Dunedin are at best marginal and may be frequently loss-making in terms of an acceptable commercial return: the cake is therefore being cut according to demand, and to survive the company most continue to focus on reducing costs and becoming more efficient.
Some of the most vocal complaints have been about the variations in the fare structure on trans-Tasman services, upon which Air New Zealand now has a monopoly from Dunedin.
Sale fares available from Christchurch but not from Dunedin have been a particular grumble, with even travel agents saying it was often cheaper to send a client to Christchurch to take one of the competing flights than fly to Australia from Dunedin.
Again, the suspicion is that Otago travellers are subsidising others.
If passenger numbers are the true and only cause of the decline in services to and from Dunedin by Air New Zealand, the company must take some of the responsibility, for little has obviously being done to restore its profile in the city or to promote in any compelling manner comparable numbers of cheaper fares on its transtasman services as once existed when Freedom Air operated.
The perception is that the company is focusing most of its domestic attention on services between Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, where - undoubtedly - most of its customers live, but significantly where it also faces the greatest competition from other carriers.
The company reports average domestic passenger loadings, at about 80%, are slightly up on last year, so is Dunedin, as with other smaller cities, taking a disproportionate share of cost-cutting measures and, incidentally, further boosting the competitive advantage of the three main regional capitals?
Dunedin and Otago interests have for some time been working to attract more passengers to use air services from the city, including seeking the interest of competing airlines for both domestic and international services.
The repercussions for the local economy from declining air services have already been noticed and would become severe if the decline was not arrested, for the region must be serviced by an adequate infrastructure, including modern sophisticated communications and fast and comfortable international and domestic air services.
Full airline competition has worked before, and is clearly working to the advantage of consumers in some other centres: attracting it back to this region has become an urgent priority.
